A conventional structured light depth sensing system operates by projecting a fixed 2D pattern onto a scene. The depth sensing system then captures image information which represents the scene, as illuminated by the pattern. The depth sensing system then measures the shift that occurs between the original pattern that is projected onto the scene and pattern content that appears in the captured image information. The depth sensing system can then use this shift, together with the triangulation principle, to determine the depth of surfaces in the scene.
A depth sensing system may produce image information having poor quality in certain circumstances. However, known depth sensing systems do not address these quality-related issues in a satisfactory manner.